Life is Precious
by awillowdeeplyscarred
Summary: the real title wouldn't fit. Troypay. It's very sad. The intended title is You Never Know How Precious Life Is...Until It's Gone. Joint fic with DarkAngelIdolSodapopCurtisLover
1. Chapter 1: Getting There

**Author's Note: **Ah, my first co-written story! Please enjoy and review. And thanks to Baby-M-xoxo for giving me the fabulous title!

You Never Know How Precious Life Is…Until It's Gone

**Chapter 1: That's Fascinating**

**By musiclover94 and DarkAngelIdolSodapopCurtisLvr**

"Troy, our flight leaves in _half and hour!_" Sharpay said irritably up the stairs to her husband, who was now taking the stairs two at a time. 

"I know, I know…" he said, adjusting his tie. Why he was wearing a tie to a national park was beyond Sharpay. Sometimes she wondered how they ever ended up married.

"Ready, Belle?" Sharpay said motherly to her 7-year-old daughter, Annabelle Victoria Bolton She had blonde, wavy hair, and blue-gray eyes just like Troy's.

"Yes, Mommy!" she said energetically, holding up her green backpack. Sharpay smiled.

"Ok, everyone, in the car!" Troy said and opened the front door.

The Boltons were in their Honda Hybrid Accord driving to the Albuquerque Airport with Annabelle in the backseat, engrossed in a copy of "Facts about Yellowstone National Park".

"Guess what?" she said, not peeling her eyes from the book.

"What, honey?" Troy asked, looking back at her through the rearview mirror. 

"Yellowstone is just a big volcano. It could blow up at any moment!" she said excitedly. Even at seven, she had taken a great liking of the sciences.

"That's…that's fascinating, sweetheart…" Sharpay said, exchanging nervous glances with Troy.

"We're finally here!" Sharpay exclaimed, stepping off the platform. The scenery around them was breathtaking: the trees were still black from the fire, but the magnificent hills and geysers, even though they smelled like rotten eggs, were stunning.

After they went dropped off their luggage at the Old Faithful Motel, they walked around the park.

"Hey, Mom, look at this!" Annabelle exclaimed and clambored over to a moniter in the Old Faithful Vistor Center. It was labeled 'Volcano Hapenenings'. 

"It seems higher than usual," she observed, looking intently at the screen. It must have made sense to her.

"Fascinating…"Troy said, eyeing the screen warily.

"My legs are killing me!" Sharpay said, flopping down on the rather stiff mattress in their motel room.

"Mine too." Troy said, also flopping down.

"'Night."

"'Night."

Juts as they were falling asleep, a piercing alarm rung in their ears.

**Author's Note: **Haha, a cliffy! Please review.


	2. Chapter 2: Yellowstone Blew Up

Author's Note: Please review

**Author's Note: **Please review! Big thanks to Baby-M-xo for ideas! You rock!

**Disclaimer: ** only own the idea to write this.

Life is Precious

**Chapter 2: Yellowstone Blew Up**

**By musiclover94 and DarkAngelIdolSodapopCurtisLover**

Recap…

"Mine too." Troy said, also flopping down.

"'Night."

"'Night."

Juts as they were falling asleep, a piercing alarm rung in their ears.

Sharpay sat up with a start as if she was just poked with a white-hot poker.

"What was that?" she breathed.

"We'd better go out and see." he said, pulling on his shoes and opened the door, exposing the cold mountain air and the thick summer humidity. Sharpay reluctantly followed, clutching Annabelle and a small bag she had pre-packed in case of an emergency. They immediately started to cough. The air was also thick with black soot, falling as lightly as black snow.

"Everyone make your way to the Bear County High School down the street." A disembodied voice boomed.

Without question, Sharpay started jogging to the school. Troy had to walk three steps for every one of hers.

Once inside the musty school, Sharpay flipped open her T-Mobile Sidekick and turned it on.

"What are you doing?" Troy asked.

"Call…" Sharpay began, but stopped, looking wide-eyes at the screen.

"What?" Troy asked worridly.

"My News Report says that Yellowstone bl-blew up…" she trailed off.

"_What?_" he said, not daring to believe it.

"It's blown up, and it's…it's spreading!" she said, leaning against the wall faintly.

"What do you mean 'it's spreading'?" he asked, picking up the cell phone that she had dropped.

"It's spreading to other parts of the state. Very quickly." she said.

BOOM. A corridor filled with more tourists caved in. Sharpay screamed and moved closer to Troy and Annabelle, shaking and white-faced.

Along with the mass of concrete along the other hallway, a mass of black soot blew in, coming their way. Sharpay backed away farther.

BOOM. CRASH.

**Author's Note: **Haha, a cliffy! Please review and check out Baby-M-xo's profile. She's awesome!


	3. Chapter 3: Are We Going to Make It?

Author's Note: You know the drill

**Author's Note: **You know the drill! Please review.

Life is Precious

**Chapter 3: Are We Going to Make It Out of Here?**

By musiclover94, DarkAngelIdolSodapopCurtisLover, and Baby-M-xoRecap…

Along with the mass of concrete along the other hallway, a mass of black soot blew in, coming their way. Sharpay backed away farther.

BOOM.

A huge amount of something hit the roof right above Troy, Sharpay, and Annabelle. They all looked nervously upward. A large crack had emerged in the concrete ceiling.

CRASH.

A massive chunk of concrete crumbled from the ceiling and landed on Annabelle's legs. Sharpay let out a scream and ran over to her. Troy was trying unsuccessfully to pry the concrete off her.

"Bell, are you okay?" Sharpay asked, pulling back a sheet of sooty blonde hair from her daughters' face.

I-I don't know…" she drifted off, causing a look of raw fear to pass over Troy and Sharpay's faces.

"Does this hurt?" Troy asked, wincing as he pressed a hand over Annabelle's leg.

"No," she said.

"Sharpay, do you still have that bag?" Troy asked slowly.

"Yeah," she said, passing it to him with trembling hands.

Troy leafed through it. "There's nothing in here for broken legs, Sharpay," he said.

"Well, I never thought we'd be in a situation like this, Troy!" Sharpay snapped angrily, putting her head on her hands.

"Bell, we're gonna move you, okay?" Sharpay said, picking her up bridal style and moving her away from the hole in the ceiling.

"Mommy, are we going to make it out of here?" Annabelle asked seriously, looking at Sharpay with that piercing blue-gray stare, very much like her father's.

"I don't know, honey." Sharpay said, hugging her.

Sharpay picked up her Sidekick and clicked on Google.

"What are you doing?" Troy asked.

"Seeing how far the Yellowstone explosion's gotten."

"And…"

"Oh my god…" she whispered.

"What?" Troy asked urgently.

"It's gone over the whole United States and it's…it's spreading…"

"What about everyone back home?" Annabelle asked.

"And New Mexico, after Wyoming, was hit the hardest." Sharpay said.

Gabriella Evans (formerly Gabriella Montez) was absentmindedly flipping the channels and slowly drifting off to sleep when she heard it.

"We interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement: Yellowstone National Park, home of the Old Faithful Geyser, has blown up for the first time in millions of years. It has traveled to all the Western states and is rapidly moving towards our town of Albuquerque. More updates coming soon."

**Author's Note: **This wasn't the best, but please review!


	4. Chapter 4: Last Wish

Author's Note: Please review

**Author's Note: **Please review!

**Clarification: **Gabriella is called Gabriella Evans because she's married to Ryan. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. And Shamale is pronounced Sha-ma-leee.

Life is Precious

**Chapter 4: Last Wish**

**By musiclover94 and DarkAngelIdolSodapopCurtisLover**

Recap…

Gabriella Evans (formerly Gabriella Montez) was absentmindedly flipping the channels and slowly drifting off to sleep when she heard it.

"We interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement: Yellowstone National Park, home of the Old Faithful Geyser, has blown up for the first time in millions of years. It has traveled to all the Western states and is rapidly moving towards our town of Albuquerque. More updates coming soon."

"Honey, I don't think you're being sensible…" Ryan told his wife unsuccessfully.

"I _am _being sensible, Ryan!" Gabriella said frantically, trying to find her keys.

"Well, if you're going, I'm going too." Ryan said, grabbing his coat, seeing that he could not keep her here.

"Why?" she asked hotly.

"Because I'd like to be there if something happens. And to keep you and the baby safe." he said seriously.

"Is that a storm cloud?" Gabriella asked, pointing through the windshield of their Ford Explorer Hybrid at an ever-growing black cloud.

"No…I think…I think that's, no…it can't be…" Ryan began.

"What 'can't be'?" Gabriella asked.

"That might be an ash cloud from Yellowstone, but how could it get all the way over here so quickly?" Ryan said, eying the sky worridly.

"How lo-how lo…" Troy began, but got cut off short by a fit of coughs.

Sharpay looked extremely worried. "Honey, are you okay?" she asked.

"Nah, I'm fine." Troy lied, now turning pale with the coughing. Sharpay didn't need any more worry on her.

BOOM.

"Oh.My.God." Gabriella breathed and pressed her foot to the accelerator. Hard.

"Gabi, you shouldn't speed…"

"One, we're in the middle of nowhere with no other cars, two, I'm almost positive that came from Yellowstone, and three, OUR FRIENDS, NOT TO MENTION YOUR SISTER, ARE IN DANGER!" Gabriella said hormonally.

"Oh my god, I completely forgot Sharpay's there!" Ryan said, looking at the gas pedal as if asking it to push it to the limit. Gabriella glared at him. "How could you forget that?"

"WATCH OUT FOR THAT CAR!"

CRASH. The horrid sound of metal on metal was what they heard before everything went black.

BOOM.

"What was that?" Sharpay said nervously, looking skyward.

"The Yellowstone Volcano couldn't possibly have any more ash, could it?" Troy asked, turning paler.

A huge sheet of black, poisonous ash and gases stormed into the school and hit the trio. Sharpay immediately shielded Annabelle. In return, she got a face-full of ash.

"We should move, Sharpay…." Troy realized, feeling stupid for not doing so earlier.

Troy carried Annabelle and Sharpay followed with shaking knees. He spotted a spot far away from the demolished corridor with the other tourists, when…

"Help!" a faint cry sounded from the corridor. Sharpay turned on her heel and walked over.

A small girl covered in ash and what looked horribly like blood emerged. She had mousy brown hair and huge, sad blue eyes.

"What happened?" Troy asked, adjusting Annabelle oh his shoulders.

"Well, the roof caved in from the weight of the ash on it and…well, I'm the only one left." she said sadly.

"So there's no one left? Except us." Sharpay asked. The girl nodded.

"What's your name?" Sharpay asked, trying to put a warm smile on her face.

"Shamale Danforth." she said quietly. Troy and Sharpay did a double take.

"Danforth?" Troy said, not daring to believe it.

"Yes." she said, looking at her feet.

"So your parents are Chad and Taylor Danforth?" Sharpay asked.

"Yes," she said again simply.

"And are they…in there?" Troy asked, trying to ease the pain.

"Yes." Shamale said, barely above a whisper.

Troy nearly fell over. "Here, why don't you come with us," Sharpay said distantly.

"Okay," she said, getting up from the slab of concrete she was sitting on. They led her over to the new post. Troy still looked horrified.

"Gabriella?" Ryan said, becoming conscious.

"GABRIELLA!" he shouted, upon seeing the state of his wife. He set to pulling the windshield shards from her with fumbling fingers.

He realized what he needed to do. He got Gabriella from the car and started walking in the direction of Yellowstone. _It can't be far now _he thought. And it had been his wife's last wish.

**Author's Note: **Well, I thought this chapter was better than the previous, but you tell me! Please review.


	5. Chapter 5: REALLY IMPORTANT AN

-To all reviewers-

**-To all reviewers-**

I am discontinuing Life is Precious. I have ideas, but they are more like fragments of ideas, no real details to support them. I will be writing more Troypay in the future, though, and it would probably end a lot happier than this story would have ended.

**Here are the ideas I had left**

**-Troy dies by ash poisoning**

**-Annabelle Victoria Bolton is paralyzed from the waist down**

**-She names her service dog Troy**

**If anyone wants to continue this story, especially my co-writer DarkAngelIdolSodapopCurtisLover, but anyone can take this up, please send me a PM and I'll send you all the chapters if you need them.**

**Xo-musiclover94**


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